By David Fleet
Editor
Goodrich- A project to systemically identify an estimated 250 village drains moved one step closer.
Kevin Cook, project manager for WadeTrim, outlined details of the plan funded with a $150,000 grant at Monday nights village council meeting. The grant was awarded about a year ago following an application applied for in November 2013. The village, with the assistance of WadeTrim engineers, was awarded part of $450 million grant available from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Stormwater, Asset Management, Wastewater (SAW) grant or loan. The state legislature OK’d $97 million of the funds for 2014 to be allocated to various Michigan communities on a first-come, first-served basis to fund asset management plans.
“(Currently) there’s no mapping or no record keeping in a usable format,” said Cook. “We will work with the village DPW to locate all drainage structures, field survey their location and build that into a GIS mapping system. All this under the ($150,000) grant. We would open each manhole determine pipes in that location and do a size along with a physical analysis of each drainage structure. The results would be an inventory of all the drainage structures in the village and their condition.”
The grant requires a 10 percent or $15,000 village match of which DPW labor can be used. When completed the DPW and village staff will have an operating system knowing of all the drainage structures in the order of criticality to repair them.
The project will create a running dialog of the underground structures, Cook added.
“If we find damage (to drains) in areas we can video it and then jett it if a repair is necessary,” he said.
Cook added the village could create a list of worst to best drains, and work to improve the drains when funding became available.